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Tag: 2014

  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many current suitably qualified and experienced personnel positions are (a) required and (b) vacant in (i) Type 23 and (ii) Type 45 ship crews.

    Anna Soubry

    The information requested, as at 1 May 2014, is shown in the table:

    Required Positions Vacant Positions
    Type 23 2,060 180
    Type 45 1.010 80

    Note: All figures are rounded in accordance with the Defence Statistics rounding policy. All numbers over 100 are rounded to the nearest 10 with numbers ending in 5 rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to avoid bias. Numbers under 100 are rounded to the nearest 5.

    None of the existing vacancies is in a post categorised as safety critical and no ship would go to sea without the minimum required complement of suitably qualified and experienced personnel.

  • The Earl of Dundee – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The Earl of Dundee – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Dundee on 2014-03-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for international intervention or guidance to assist the efforts of the Plenum movement to reduce corruption and financial irregularities in Bosnia Herzegovina.

    Baroness Warsi

    The recent protests and work of the plenums are evidence of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) political stalemate and economic malaise. We are making clear to BiH’s leaders that the onus is on them to respond to the socio-economic grievances expressed by protesters and the plenums, most recently in the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague)’s meetings with the Presidency and the Foreign Minister on 27 and 28 March. We see an opportunity also for the international community, particularly the EU, to support reform ahead of October’s elections. This includes assistance through new initiatives on economic reform and anti-corruption announced by EU Commissioner Fule, and the EU Special Representative’s planned ‘Compact for Growth’. We support these efforts to develop and build popular support for concrete reforms in economic governance, transparency and anti-corruption.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Stephenson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of how many adults in (a) East Lancashire, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West exercised for at least 30 minutes a week during the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department has made no such estimate. However, the Active People Survey commissioned by Sport England measures the proportion of adults (aged 16 and over) who undertake some form of physical activity at moderate intensity (or higher). Data from the most recent survey can be found in the following table.

    Active People Survey (APS) data, 2012

    Proportion of the adult population (age 16 years and over) participating in 30 or more equivalent minutes of moderate activity per week.

    Area

    30+ minutes

    England

    71.5%

    North West Region

    68.8%

    Lancashire County

    69.6%

    Blackburn with Darwen UA

    63.1%

    Blackpool UA

    65.1%

    Burnley

    65.0%

    Chorley

    75.3%

    Fylde

    68.0%

    Hyndburn

    63.7%

    Lancaster

    74.4%

    Pendle

    66.1%

    Preston

    69.3%

    Ribble Valley

    74.1%

    Rossendale

    66.8%

    South Ribble

    69.5%

    West Lancashire

    73.3%

    Wyre

    65.6%

    Source: Active People Survey, Sport England

    Notes:

    1. The data were collected between January 2012 to January 2013 (APS6 Quarter 2 to APS7 Quarter 1).
    2. The APS is commissioned by Sport England and measures the proportion of adults (aged 16 and over) participating in sport and/or undertaking some form of physical activity at moderate intensity (or higher).
    3. The survey uses a 28-day reference period to record the number of minutes of physical activity (of at least 10 minutes) and then divides the number of minutes by four to come up with a weekly average (e.g. two hours of physical activity over the 28 days equates to 30 minutes per week). Number of minutes presented is the equivalent minutes of moderate activity, which consists of moderate activity plus double the number of vigorous minutes of activity.
    4. The activities included in the APS are; sport, recreational cycling and walking, walking and cycling for active travel purposes, dance and gardening.
    5. The percentages are weighted to adjust the results so that they are representative of the whole population at local authority, regional and national level.
    6. Further information and data are available at these websites:

    www.noo.org.uk/data_sources/physical_activity/activepeople

    www.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey.aspx

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his most recent assessment is of the success of the zero carbon homes policy; and if he will make a statement.

    Stephen Williams

    Budget 2014 reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to implement zero carbon homes from 2016. In Growth Review 2011 we set out a fair, practical and cost effective approach to zero carbon homes. This made house builders responsible for abating the carbon from energy use from systems which they can control – heating and hot water systems and building services – not the energy use from appliances which they cannot be expected to control. We are taking forward the zero carbon homes policy through a staged approach of steadily strengthening the energy performance requirements in the Building Regulations and through the introduction of cost-effective options for off-site carbon reductions – ‘Allowable Solutions’. Under this Government the energy performance requirements for new homes, the latest of which come into force on 6 April 2014, have been strengthened by around 30% from the previous 2006 standard saving house holder’s fuel bills and cutting carbon emissions.

  • Peter Luff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Peter Luff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Luff on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools have (a) merged design and technology with art and design and (b) removed design and technology from their curriculum since 2010.

    Elizabeth Truss

    The Department does not collect nor hold the data requested.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2014, Official Report, column 386W, on the Electoral Register, what is the (a) earliest and (b) latest age a person is allocated their National Insurance number; and what the earliest date is that an attainer can be registered to vote.

    Greg Clark

    National Insurance numbers are sent automatically when individuals reach the age of 15 years and 9 months. There is no upper age limit to apply for a National Insurance number.

    The law provides that an attainer will be included on the register if they will reach the age of 18 before the end of a 12-month period starting from the next 1 December after the application is made.

  • Gordon Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gordon Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Brown on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the reason is for the time taken for his Department to publish COMPARE’s report on radium contamination at Dalgety Bay.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department has been engaged with the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment throughout the production of its report on Dalgety Bay, andour priority throughout has been to make sure that it is comprehensive, accurate and up to date.

    During this process information was provided to the Committee for due consideration prior to final publication.

  • Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lucy Powell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lucy Powell on 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of employees in his Department of each (a) Civil Service pay grade and (b) gender work (i) reduced hours, (ii) flexi-time, (iii) from home, (iv) a compressed working week, (v) job share, (vi) term-time only and (vii) part-time.

    Gregory Barker

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has a Flexible Working policy which allows its staff to apply to work through a range of flexible working options. These include part time working, job sharing, compressed hours, as well as working from home on an occasional or more regular basis or as part of a formal arrangements where staff are officially based at home. DECC does not hold central records of those staff who have made a statutory application for flexible working.

    Information relating to staff who work part time is recorded centrally and the proportion of those by (a) Civil Service pay grade and (b) gender is set out in the tables below.

    Civil Service pay grade

    Full Time

    Part Time

    AO

    89%

    11%

    EO

    93%

    7%

    HEO

    96%

    4%

    FASTSTREAM

    100%

    0%

    SEO

    95%

    5%

    G7

    91%

    9%

    G6

    86%

    14%

    SCS

    91%

    9%

    Grand Total

    92%

    8%

    Gender

    Full Time

    Part Time

    Female

    86%

    14%

    Male

    98%

    2%

    Grand Total

    92%

    8%
  • Dan Byles – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Dan Byles – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Byles on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment he has made of the proportion of the Demand Side Balancing Reserve that will comprise of active demand reduction rather than switching on generation assets.

    Michael Fallon

    The Demand Side Balancing Reserve is operated by National Grid independently from Government. Once National Grid has concluded the procurement of the reserve in the autumn it will be possible to identify the proportion of the reserve that comprises ‘load reduction’ rather than the export of additional generation onto the grid (though initial expressions of interest to National Grid suggest that around 75% of the reserve may be provided by load reduction). However, it will not be possible to determine whether this load reduction is achieved through a reduction in demand, or by turning on local back up generation to meet local needs.

  • Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-03-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme delivers a cost effective network that meets the standards of security and resilience essential for mission-critical communications.

    Damian Green

    The Programme has undertaken an extensive market engagement exercise to help
    determine the technical and commercial feasibility of the proposed Emergency
    Services Network (ESN). The results of these industry soundings indicate that
    it should be possible to move to Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) solution based
    technologies that will be more cost effective and will allow the Emergency
    Services communications to evolve in line with developments in the consumer
    market. The outline business case, approved in March 2014, included costs for
    the security and resilience enhancements required to provide the appropriate
    service levels for ESN users.